Miscellanies. 195 
adjusted tubes of large and small diameter to the oven, connected 
them with a worm, and luted the mouth of the oven, they procured, 
from the baking of two hundred loaves, by means of the large tubes, 
about 50 litres (=13} gallons) of a limpid fluid, of a yellow color, a 
sweetish taste, and emitting the odor of rye bread. Reagents indica- 
ted the presence of acetate of lead resulting from the tubes of that 
metal, acetic acid, but not a trace of alcohol. When the distillation 
was performed through small tubes, the quantity of liquor obtained 
was but three or four litres. Surprised at finding no alcohol in the 
product, according to. the statements of the English Journals, the 
process was varied, but with the same result, and as a counter proof, 
a quantity of alcohol was placed in a-vessel in the middle of the oven, 
but instead of a simple distillation, it was decomposed or absorbed by 
the materials, and the quantity of acetic acid was sensibly augment- 
ed. From this it may be inferred, “a 
1.- That the materials of an oven are too permeable to prevent the 
alcohol from passing through them. 
~2. That at the temperature of 300° cent. the alcohol, if it exist, 
is immediately transformed into acetic acid by the air contained in 
the oven, or that which percolates through the materials. Whether 
an oven constructed of iron plates would furnish alcohol bas not been 
determined, at least in France, and to prevent the disappointment 
into which speculators may be led, the writers were induced to make 
known the result of their experiment.—Idem, tome 15, p. 190. 
6. Imitation Silver.—Cutlers, and all those who have occasion to 
imitate silver, often purchase, very dear, an alloy called mailchior for 
escutcheons and other ornaments. It possesses considerable tenacity, 
and may serve as a substitute for silver in certain instruments of sur- 
gery. 'The two following prescriptions are both practised according 
to the uses of the metal. Their preparation requires the same pre- 
Melt in a Hessian crucible of the capacity of a quart, twenty ounces 
of nickel, six oz. of red copper, two oz. of salt of tartar, and three 
0z. of good clear glass. When the mixture is liquefied, withdraw it 
from the fire, and when the crucible begins to lose its redness, pro- 
ject into it 4 oz. of pure granulated zinc, and stir it carefully, that the 
zinc may be well diffused; place it for a very short time over the fire, 
and then pour it out on an earthen slab, removing carefully the sco- 
riz; This mixture is somewhat brittle ; the following is more solid. 
